The Caribbean Child Development Centre (CCDC) received a grant for JA$50,000,000 from the CHASE Fund to renovate CCDC and establish a laboratory school on its premises for children between the ages of three months and five years. The early childhood centre should begin renovation in January 2016 and will open in September 2016.
The Jamaican early childhood centre will join two Global Campus early childhood centres in Trinidad & Tobago and one Global Campus early childhood centre in Antigua which are already in existence and in the process of being restructured to become laboratory schools under The UWI Global Campus Early Childhood Centres of Excellence Company.
The centres will provide childcare services for young children of staff, students and the surrounding communities, as well as a learning environment for practicum students in early childhood development and other programmes. They will also provide research opportunities for staff and students in developmental psychology, early childhood education, social work, paediatrics, public health, nutrition, and other disciplines. The provision of these laboratory schools will allow for the establishment of best practices in early childhood development, and training sites for prospective educators and others working in the early childhood environment.
The centres’ philosophy is “to serve as exemplary models of play-based best practices in early childhood development and support the development of quality early childhood practices throughout the Caribbean through pre-service and in-service professional development and research.” The centres will incorporate their motto “Learning through play, celebrating the process” in everything that they do.
In June 2015, the early childhood company coordinator, Ms. Cathryn O’Sullivan was hired on a part-time basis. Also during that month the Jamaican early childhood centre hosted its first practicum and exchange student, Mrs Colette Kane from George Brown College in Toronto, Canada. Between June 1 and June 26, Mrs. Kane and Ms. O'Sullivan began to develop the structure, protocol and policies that govern The UWI OC Early Childhood Centres of Excellence. They also created a philosophy and motto for the centres in order to create a cohesive body with a unifying purpose. While each centre will retain its unique feeling, they will all meet the same standards and should all be easily recognizable as The UWI OC Early Childhood Centres of Excellence.
See Brochure
